President Trump announced late Wednesday night he will not give the State of the Union Address at an alternate location and that he would wait to give the speech until the government reopens. Trump has been in a standoff with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) over the address since she decided to use the speech as a bargaining chip in the debate over government funding and funds for a border wall that has led to a month-long partial government shutdown.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying has spoken out against the publication of the new US National Intelligence Strategy, in which China and Russia are referred to as “adversary” countries against the US.

“We have taken note of the wording that [the United States] mentioned in the updated version of the US National Intelligence Strategy, which has just been published in the United States. The United States has issued a series of reports, which present unfounded accusations against Russia and China,” said Hua Chunying, a ministry spokesman in a statement.

Chunying urged the United States to make further efforts to strengthen mutual trust between the two countries and maintain international peace and stability, as well as urging Washington to abandon the Cold War mentality.

US destroyers have just entered the southern part of the Baltic Sea, near Russian territorial waters. In this connection, an expert ensures that Russia is able to counteract any threat, “if need be.”

American warships USS Gravely and USS Porter recently entered the Baltic Sea. The Boiky and Soobrazitelny corvettes of the Russian Navy began to monitor the actions of these ships.

Russian military expert Andrei Koshkin expressed his opinion on the situation.

“The situation worsens mainly because of US President Donald Trump’s declaration that the start of a new stage of ‘Star Wars’. The missile defense systems installed aboard ships are a kind of priority for the US,” he said.

President Trump has given in to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and has agreed to postpone the State of the Union address until the government reopens.

This backing away comes as a surprise from the normally combative president. Up until this point, it appeared that President Trump was going to force Pelosi’s hand, and deliver the State of the Union speech from a different location in Congress or from somewhere outside the Beltway. Now, he’s given Pelosi a win by bowing down to her demand.

Nancy Pelosi has denied Trump’s request to authorize the State of the Union address:

From Axios: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent President Trump a letter Wednesday stating that the House “will not consider a resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union in the House Chamber until the government has opened.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders criticized the media in a Tuesday night interview on “Hannity” following the pushback on BuzzFeed’s bombshell report and the debacle surrounding students from Covington Catholic.

Covington Catholic High School made headlines over the weekend when a video of MAGA hat-wearing students being confronted by a Native American man went viral. While many assigned blame to the students, it became clear when more video surfaced, that they did not initiate the confrontation.

President Trump is changing how we view reality
Our opinions are assigned to us by the media we follow
Facts don’t matter, reality is subjective
We all think we can read others minds…we can’t
People with diff opinions aren’t necessarily evil or stupid
Ability to predict the future accurately and two movies one screen
Your “movie” if valid, can predict the future
Is your movie more predictive than the opposing movie?
Rhymes have powerful memory and persuasion powers
Build the wall and crime will fall!
The “Well of Self-Research” (Whiteboard 1)
Doing your own research isn’t possible for non-experts
Eventually you can’t go any deeper and go with your bias
The 97% question regarding climate science (Whiteboard 2)
The framing of poll questions can pre-determine poll results
Are retired climate scientists without financial incentives…

The controversial security contractor Blackwater is back in the headlines now that its founder – billionaire and former Navy SEAL Erik Prince – has made the case that the United States should replace its small footprint of 2,000 troops in Syria with mercenaries.

Prince’s pitch on Fox Business comes after U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise pullout announcement in December left Washington’s allies – the Syrian Kurdish forces that fought ISIS – fearing for their security in the face of threats from Turkey.

Blackwater, which was renamed, sold and began operating in 2011 as Virginia-based Academi, was mired in controversy after it was banned from Iraq after some of its people opened fire on civilians at a busy traffic circle.

Prince, however, is eyeing a major comeback by offering Trump a way to both safeguard U.S. allies in Syria while pulling out U.S. troops>>>

On January 10—Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for his second term as president of Venezuela. “I tell the people,” Maduro said, “this presidential sash is yours. The power of this sash is yours. It does not belong to the oligarchy or to imperialism. It belongs to the sovereign people of Venezuela.”
***
The gunsights were once firmly on West Asia and North Africa—on Iraq, Libya, Syria and Iran—but now they are focused on Latin America—on Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. These countries face economic sanctions and embargoes, threats of annihilation, covert operations and war. The definition of imperialism is simple: if you don’t do what we tell you to do, we’ll destroy you.

Pressure on Venezuela has been intense. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for the overthrow of the Bolivarian government, led by Maduro. Sanctions have been ratcheted up. Economic warfare has become normal. Threats of a military invasion are in the air.

Venezuela's Maduro accuses US of trying to force a coup after Mike Pence sends video message of support to opposition.

Nicolas Maduro says he has ordered a "revision" of Venezuela's diplomatic relations with the United States, accusing Washington of trying to force a coup after US Vice President Mike Pence threw his weight behind attempts to get rid of the South American country's president.

Maduro said on Tuesday he would announce new measures in the next few hours, in comments that came shortly after Pence declared support for protesters and opposition leaders before widespread anti-government demonstrations planned for Wednesday.

"On behalf of President Donald Trump and all the American people, let me express the unwavering support of the United States as you, the people of Venezuela, raise your voices in a call for freedom," Pence said in a taped video message in English with a few Spanish words and phrases mixed in.

"Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power. He has never won the presidency in a free and fair election, and has maintained his grip of power by imprisoning anyone who dares to oppose him."

(*Israel is made up of the most illegal of immigrants on earth , and oddly enough The U.S. has partnered up with them , and support their destructive acts towards The Nation of Palestine , and beyond , into Syria , and eventually Iran .)

Damascus: Israeli Strikes Aimed at Prolonging Crisis in Syria
Syria has once again written protest letters to the United Nations, urging the world body to take a decisive step and put an end to Israel's acts of aggression against its territory as Tel Aviv's hostile strikes are aimed at “prolonging” the crisis in the Arab country.

According to SANA official news agency, the development came after Syria’s air defenses shot down more than 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs during Israel's aerial attacks in the early hours of Monday.

PLO: Trump Administration Is Israel's Partner in Targeting UNRWA, Palestinian Refugees
PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said the Israeli government's provocative decision targeting Palestinian refugees in Jerusalem, including closing down and appropriating UNRWA institutions is an affront to international law and international humanitarian law as well as the will of the international community as expressed in United Nations resolutions.
***
“In its campaign against Jerusalem, Palestine refugees and UNRWA, Israel is empowered by the US Administration's illegal and unilateral decisions against Palestinian rights,” she added.

This includes the defunding of UNRWA as well as other positions aimed at preempting final status issues and undermining Palestinian national rights. The Donald Trump administration is thus Israel's partner in this vicious campaign, Ashrawi stressed.

“We call on all governments to assume their responsibilities in confronting this destructive American-Israeli campaign.>>>

Washington is attempting to turn Iraq into a wall between Iran and Syria, a prominent Iraqi security expert opined.

Kazzem al-Haaj was quoted by the Arabic-language al-Ma'aloumeh news website as saying on Tuesday that the US wants to establish bases in specific zones with respect to their geographical and demographical conditions in Iraq, specially regions near the Iraqi Kurdistan region, to drive a wedge between Iran and Syria and Lebanon.

He warned that the measure is aimed at paving the ground for Washington to implement the next stage of its plot and launch a war against the resistance front and Iran.

Kamala’s campaign, the packaging process begins
MLK Day and huge portions of the population were being racist
Toddlers should be able to vote and participate in national decisions
My apology for originally thinking otherwise
Brazilian related troll key to spread of the Covington video
RPOS (AOC) isn’t dumb…believe she is at your political peril
How did she win her election?
Why are we all talking about her all the time?
You can’t ignore a master persuader…like RPOS
CNN hasn’t noticed President Trump talked us out of nuclear war
Per CNN, NK played us and we are in a worse position
What’s best for the poor, is best for the country and world

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again attempted to convince his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, to allow Turkey to control Manbij, a region in northern Syria under the auspices of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ), in a phone call Sunday.

The YPG is one of America’s closest and most reliable allies in the country, responsible for eliminating much of the Islamic State presence in Syria and keeping the terrorist group out of Manbij and much of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava). The Turkish government considers YPG fighters “terrorists” indistinguishable from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist, U.S.-designated terrorist group.

"Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good - maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!" ~ President Donald Trump

“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” the president wrote. He later expanded on that sentiment in a video message, posted on Twitter. “Our boys, our young men and women, are coming home now,” Trump noted. “We won.”

But a recent attack on U.S. forces in Syria, carried out by a suicide bomber which ISIS claimed was operating on its behalf, has led to an outpouring of criticism of Trump’s precipitous decision. “ISIS has claimed credit for killing American troops in Syria today,” Senator Marco Rubio tweeted in the aftermath of the attack. “If true, it is a tragic reminder that ISIS not been defeated and is transforming into a dangerous insurgency. This is no time to retreat from the fight against ISIS. Will only embolden & strengthen them.”

It’s a huge mistake to assume that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will ever fund all its projects in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip as it doesn't want to help exercise of Palestinian self-determination and sovereignty.

The US administration has already made the decision to cut funding to the Palestinians, and Dave Harden, former USAID Mission Director and Managing Director of the Georgetown Strategy Group, has already confirmed that.

Harden says Washington plans to shut down USAID and that the US administration "demonstrates again a lack of nuance, sophistication, and appreciation for the complexity of the situation.”

The 48 Hour Rule
If someone makes a mistake, and atones for it in the form of a
sincere apology, you should accept the apology even if you
can’t forgive the person…and move on.
Reasons given for not accepting my apology
Attack vector on the Covington kids is now shifting
Bad behavior at the event (by the children) didn’t exist
Left claims: MAGA hats are a known racist symbol
Left now looking for bad behavior by the children in the past
Jake Tapper interview with Kristen Gillibrand
Clearly, CNN has decided Kristen won’t be the candidate
A clear pattern is developing, CNN is anointing Kamala
How candidates are selected in America (Whiteboard)
A few billionaires decide who the candidates will be
The media cements those candidates for the public
The public then has the ILLUSION of choosing candidates
“You should have researched it”…The dumbest statement

A new Vanity Fair analysis refers to former president Barack Obama as a “visionary” but notes that up-and-coming Democrats are starting to frown upon his legacy.

Author T.A. Frank surmises that perhaps it isn’t the quality of his work – praising such legacy items as the Affordable Care Act, DACA, and the Paris climate deal – but rather acceptance by the American public and how it might reflect on their own political prospects.

In a relatively short period of time, President Trump has almost single-handedly dismantled Obama’s legacy. The above-noted items have all been torn apart in some manner. Others not listed have as well.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s State of the Union postponement tactics aren’t really about the shutdown or thwarting the border wall so much but instead is about cutting off a direct line of communication between President Donald Trump and the American people. As you’ll recall, Pelosi wrote President Trump Wednesday requesting that he delay the televised SOTU until the government is reopened, calling it a “housekeeping matter.” According to Cruz, it’s really because Pelosi is a hostage of sorts to the Democrats’ increasingly Left wing voter base, and she and her party mates are being exposed for spiteful politicking despite funding previous border security efforts.

"Our world is run by oligarchs, the holders of vast wealth from monopolies in banking, resource extraction, manufacturing, and technology. Oligarchs have such power that most of the world doesn’t even know of their influence over our lives. Their overall agenda is global power – a world government, run by them – to be achieved through planned steps of social engineering. The oligarchs remain in the background and have heads of state and entire governments acting in their service. Presidents and prime ministers are their puppets. Bureaucrats and politicians are their factotums..." >>

Graham Peebles says proponents of tribal nationalism, which rests on competition and suspicion of “the other”, are out of step with the times where increasingly younger people are community-focused civic nationalists and see themselves as “citizens of the world” .>>

CNN continues to pump the worst kind of dangerous fake news
Covington Catholic kids vs Black Israelites and drummer
CNN reversed the victims and the perpetrators
The Black Israelites started it and were full-on racists
Then the Black Israelites said lots of bad thing about Dems
The Black Israelites were saying anti-gay things in the video
The kids pushed back against the anti-gay sentiments
The kids pushed back against Black Israelites racism
The Black Israelites then armed themselves
The drummer was looking to CAUSE trouble, not diffuse it
Drummers intent was to get in the faces of the teens
The kids didn’t back up or back down or misbehave
President Trump’s offer yesterday was to add variables
He stood fast on what he needs to secure the border, 5.7B
Including other topics (variables) is to entice Dems to talk
A word, “wall” is preventing a border solution

The veteran investigative reporter writes that George H. Bush, as vice president, ran a covert operations team in the early 1980s that even the CIA didn’t know about. As a former CIA director, Bush had the experience to oversee activities.Hersh says the vice president’s team ran 35 counterterrorism, counternarcotics and assassination operations between 1981 and 1985.

The neoconservatives lined up behind Hillary Clinton in 2016, appalled by Donald Trump’s condemnation of their centerpiece war in Iraq and even more so by his pledge to end the wars in Asia and nation-building projects while also improving relations with the Russians. They worked actively against the Republican candidate both before he was nominated and elected and did everything they could to stop him, including libeling him as a Russian agent.

CNN laments the Buzzfeed story falling apart
Unreliable authors working for non-credible Buzzfeed
Why did CNN breathlessly push the story till it collapsed?
Kill shot for the “immoral wall” position by Pelosi
“Negotiating with yourself” Classic negotiating error
Watch President Trump NOT make that mistake
Adding variables can get you past an impasse
At a conceptional level, open borders make sense
In the real world…open borders can be a nightmare
In a private conversation, does anyone believe in open borders?
Fact: Countries meddle in other countries elections
Mexican cartels bribe Mexican elected officials
Cartels likely already supporting the Dems
Dems must know that
Willingly or unknowingly, Dems have Cartel support
“Needle parks” discussion by Tucker Carlson and Mark Stein
They overlooked a MAJOR aspect of the topic

White House officials have issued a statement on Friday rejecting Israeli Channel 13’s report on the Israeli peace deal, declaring the deal to be “inaccurate,” and saying that “very few people on the planet know what is in it.”

Channel 13’s report cited a “senior American official,” and presented a very broad-brush summary of the plan, including giving the Palestinians a state that included the majority of the occupied West Bank, and some of the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem as their capital city.

Though this fairly unspecific report is in keeping with what most plans could be expected to contain, US special envoy Jason Greenblatt not only rejected the idea, but added that any speculation about what the US plan actually is “is not helpful.”

Trump’s nominee to be attorney general has what Trump might call “deep state” credentials.

Barr came to Langley in 1973. He was a 23 year graduate of Columbia with a masters in Chinese studies His resume shows he toiled at the agency by day and attended George Washington University law school at night. The Watergate scandal was ravaging the agency’s reputation and bringing down president Richard Nixon.

Barr spent four formative years working in the Intelligence directorate and the Office of Legislative Counsel. He even made the acquaintance of CIA director George H.W. Bush. In 1977 Barr moved on to a prestigious clerkship for a federal judge and then a series of jobs in private practice and the Justice Department. In 1991, Bush, who had since been elected president, appointed Barr to be attorney general.

President Trump's battle with the Democratic leadership over funding for his border wall has been perhaps the most rancorous political fight since the dawn of his administration - eclipsing even the contentious confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. And though the government remains shut down with no accord in sight, the president and a coterie of his senior advisors are already planning to revive their push for Trump's promised infrastructure package - one of the few issues where Democrats and Republicans are expected to find a measure of comity.

Childish Pelosi behavior vs. President Trump’s childish counter-punch
Attack the President, expect the counter-punch
SOTU now has new, better options
CNN hit piece on Beto, saying his attention is due to “white male”
CNN is picking off their non-preferred candidates
Bruce Ohr told congress he fully informed the FBI of conflicts
Told them Steele dossier was political doc from DNC
Told them his wife worked for Fusion GPS
YouTube adds Wikipedia link to my videos on climate change
The Wikipedia page believes climate change is real
Why not do same concept for self-radicalized terrorists?
Border control plan, Dems should show us their plan
What DO they want to protect the border?
Some Dem factions are cannibalizing others on topic
Some Democrat has a major attention getting opportunity
Show us a border control plan and budget

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and a select group of congressional Democrats were boarded on a military charter bus bound for Andrews Air Force Base to catch a military charter jet to Europe were forced to turn around Thursday when President Donald Trump officially postponed the trip.

Trump sent a letter to Pelosi informing her that she would not be allowed to use military aircraft to travel due to the government shutdown and instead suggested Pelosi fly commercial. It reads:

Due to the shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate.

It’s no secret that since his election in 2016, powerful elements in the US political and media establishment have been running a non-stop campaign to remove Trump from the White House. Lately, the stakes have been raised.

Spearheading the media effort to defenestrate Trump are the New York Times and Washington Post. Both have been prominent purveyors of the “Russiagate” narrative over the past two years, claiming that Republican candidate colluded with Russian state intelligence, or at least was a beneficiary of alleged Russian interference, to win the presidency against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Congressional investigations and a probe by a Special Counsel Robert Mueller, along with relentless media innuendo, have failed to produce any evidence to support the Russiagate narrative.

The 2019 Missile Defense Review advocates destabilizing policies that the United States should reject and concentrate instead on negotiating strategic stability with Russia and China, the Arms Control Association (ACA) said in a new paper.

"[T]he United States should pursue wide-ranging dialogues with Russia and China on strategic stability, including the impact of missile defense, and forswear particularly destabilizing steps, such as pursuing space-based interceptors," the ACA said in the paper that was published on Thursday.

Donald Trump was 'startled' after watching William Barr's attorney general confirmation hearing on Tuesday, after the 68-year-old spoke about his tight friendship with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The president complained to his aides that 'he didn't realize how much their work overlapped or that they were so close' when he nominated him, according to CNN.

After watching Barr speak at the Senate Judiciary Committee, POTUS was caught 'off-guard' and 'bristled' as he had to listen to details of their history but he later calmed himself by putting their familiarity with each other purely down Washington business.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Doesn't anyone at the White House know how to do a thorough background check?!?

As special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s indictments and convictions pile up, people inside the orbit of President Donald Trump are turning on each other in ways that constitute “a prosecutor’s dream,” according to a new report in Politico.

The report talks about the “circular firing squad” of former Trump allies and aides that has opened fire on each other in an effort to dodge prosecution.

As the nation continued to reel from President Donald Trump’s shock decision last month to remove all U.S. troops from Syria, news came Wednesday that an unknown number of US soldiers were among at least 15 killed in a bombing in northern Syria. Amid such continued violence, one would think the president’s withdrawal would have ever more urgency. And yet, just about everyone in Washington has attacked his decision to pull out.

The reflexive hatred for Trump that dominates the national conversation is bad for the US, especially when it comes to foreign policy. This is not to say that the president isn’t a flawed figure; after all, I’ve spent the better part of two years critiquing most of his policies. Still, when the man demonstrates prudent judgment—as in his recent calls to pull US troops out of Syria and Afghanistan—he should be applauded. But that’s unlikely to happen in a divided America, as long as an interventionist, bipartisan consensus runs the show in Washington.

What better proof of the Iraq debacle than President Trump’s middle-of-the-night trip to that country at Christmastime to visit U.S. troops who are still occupying the country some 15 years after the Pentagon and the CIA invaded?

The U.S. national-security establishment has had a decade-and-half to bring its federally planned paradise into existence. From the very first day of the U.S. conquest of Iraq, a country that had never attacked the United States, the Pentagon and the CIA wielded total control over the country, being able to install whatever type of regime they wanted, with no pesky constitutional restraints to inhibit whatever they wanted to do.

Everyone knows that the anti-Trump spin put out by the establishment media continues to be relentless and 2018 was no exception.

Conservative watchdog group the Media Research Center has been analyzing literally every bit of Donald Trump coverage that airs on ABC, CBS and NBC’s evening news programs that are seen by 23 million people nightly. They began their monitoring for this study in January 2017.

Arts and crafts events are being hosted at universities across the country in preparation for 2019 Women’s March, giving students the opportunity to get together and create signage for the upcoming anti-Trump march.

The president remains locked in conflict with Democrats in Congress over his request for $5.7 billion in border wall funding. The dispute led to an impasse and the ongoing partial government shutdown - it is now the longest in US history.

The Trump administration has barred US lawmakers from traveling on any government-owned and operated aircraft without explicit approval from the White House, a memo seen by Reuters said.

Earlier, Trump took to Twitter, attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats for trying to take "a seven day excursion" abroad while 800,000 federal employees go unpaid due to the shutdown.

President Donald Trump's promise to be "far worse than anybody, if need be" by developing space weapon tech "faster than the rest of the world" will spark a new arms race without ensuring US safety, says leading Russian expert.
"The militarization of space is inevitable, and the United States will quit any relevant non-proliferation treaty that stands in the way," Mikhail Khodarenok, military expert and retired colonel who served in Russian missile defense forces, told RT.

Stephen King is certainly not one to mince his words — and that goes double when it comes to Trump.
The horror master spent a large chunk of 2018 berating the President on Twitter, and — judging by his tweets so far in 2019 — he isn't planning to stop any time soon.
On Wednesday night, King addressed Trump's government shutdown — and, as usual, he didn't hold back.

If the news was reported fairly, how would things be different?
CNN is creating bad news…and then reporting it
Examples of CNN shading, creating problems and news
What was the gender mix of the Gillette meeting for their ad?
The ad is sexist, it condemns an entire group (men)
Was there intention to fake climate science? Not likely
The force field that protects the earth

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is demanding President Donald Trump postpone his State of the Union address until after the government reopens, threatening to use her little-known power of invitation to deplatform the president.

In a letter sent on Wednesday, Pelosi requested Trump reschedule his speech until they can pay the Secret Service – part of the Department of Homeland Security, which has gone unfunded since the shutdown began 26 days ago. She used Trump's own Homeland Security secretary's words to twist the knife, quoting Kirstjen Nielsen's insistence that “the full resources of the Federal Government … be brought to bear” for the high-security event -– then finished the job by suggesting Trump submit the speech in writing.

Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he never denied President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign, only that the President himself was not involved in collusion.

In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on "Cuomo Prime Time," Giuliani, a former New York mayor and Trump's attorney, said he doesn't know if other people in the campaign, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, were working with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential race.
"I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or people in the campaign," Giuliani said.

He added, "I said the President of the United States. There is not a single bit of evidence the President of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here, conspiring with the Russians to hack the DNC."

Pelosi’s offer to the president on State of the Union
The House speaker wrote a letter to the president on Wednesday suggested that "unless government re-opens this week," the State of the Union — set for January 29 — should be pushed back until the partial government shutdown ends. Or, she said he should consider delivering it in written form to Congress.

Pelosi cited "security concerns" as her request to postpone the address.

Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of Rai al-Youm newspaper, underlined that Washington's hostile stance towards Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraqi Popular Forces) and its quest for dismantling popular groups in the Arab state derives from their opposition to the US forces' occupation of Iraq.

"The US administration in an unprecedented demand called on the Iraqi government on Tuesday to dissolve 67 groups operating in the framework of the Iraqi popular forces, while all these groups were welcomed by Washington when they were fighting against the ISIL alongside the US forces. Then what has changed now," Atwan wrote on Wednesday.

Noting that Iraq's security and national identity is gradually reviving, he said that Hashd al-Shaabi forces or their leaders have demanded withdrawal of all the 5,500 US military troops from Iraq and are opposed to the US use of military bases in Iraq for possible attacks against Syria and Iran.

(*the timing of the hit piece on the late Saddam Hussein , serving to remind that he can only be 'taken out' once , airing last night was impeccable )

Reportedly, four American soldiers were killed and three wounded in a suicide bombing in Syria’s northern flashpoint town of Manbij on Wednesday. Additionally, seven civilians were also killed and nine injured in the bombing, though some reports are mentioning a higher number of casualties.

Learn how Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq with an iron fist for almost 30 years. To maintain power, he used fear, intimidation and violence like few other dictators in history, but he made the fatal mistake of believing his regime could take on the world.

(*The local PBS affiliate is going to be airing this bag of XXXX tonight . teaser video at source)

Washington will send a Navy warship to sail through the Arctic in a demonstration of its growing ambitions in the far North, the US Navy secretary said. But will it be enough to challenge Russia?

The US has long since set its sights upon the Arctic, which it openly sees as a potential new arena for a geopolitical standoff. As the planet's changing climate gradually turns ice-bound wastes into passable waterways, Washington is clearly intending to get its piece of the economic action in a region that might well become a major sea trade lane one day.

As Democrats turn their attention to the 2020 primaries, there is a marked sense of deflation over the prospects of beating Donald Trump. The thought of candidacies from Elizabeth Warren - botched DNA "reveal" aside, and the ever-confident Joe Biden, have failed to stoke much excitement throughout the Democratic base.

As Vanity Fair's T.A. Frank notes, Democrats surveying their options going into 2020 have begun to genuinely question the state of their party - and an increasing number of them are settling on the conclusion that Obama was a bad president.

Moscow has blamed Washington for the looming collapse of a key nuclear arms control deal after consultations between the two sides made no progress to reach an accord to save the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in Geneva on Tuesday that fresh talks with his American counterpart had made no headway in resolving the United States’ intention to withdraw from the INF. He held the US responsible for the failure of the bilateral negotiations.

"Responsibility for this fully and completely rests with the American side," the Russian diplomat said after the talks in Geneva.

Liberal website Vox criticized President Trump on Tuesday for serving fast food to the Clemson Tigers, claiming that Trump’s belief that fast food would be the preferred meal of the athletes was “racist and classist.”

The president took criticism from much of the mainstream media for his decision to go with fast food. Including accusations that he was “disrespecting” the players, was “unsophisticated,” or was somehow being cheap, Vox said in its January 15 post.

“One poked fun at the juxtaposition of presumably hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of silver and china ‘holding $29.50 of lukewarm dog shit,'” Vox explained.

President Trump has privately told senior administration officials that he wants to withdraw from NATO altogether, finds an explosive New York Times report:

Senior administration officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Current and former officials who support the alliance said they feared Mr. Trump could return to his threat as allied military spending continued to lag behind the goals the president had set.

The Donald has been on a red hot twitter rampage, and he's completely justified. Actually, we didn't think the Russian Collusion Hoax could get any stupider until we saw the New York Times' Friday evening bushwhack.

The trio of authors, apparently self-tortured victims of the Trump Derangement Syndrome, actually had the gall to print a story in the once and former Gray Lady of journalistic rectitude which was nothing more than an ugly smear on the sitting President of the United States - one that would have done Joe McCarthy proud:

President Trump will seek to "hire the best and fire the worst" federal government employees under the most ambitious proposal to overhaul the civil service in 40 years, officials said.

The measures will be outlined in the budget plan that Trump will send to Congress Monday, said four Office of Management and Budget officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the budget hasn't been released.

Trump foreshadowed the proposal in a line in his State of the Union address last week: "Tonight, I call on Congress to empower every Cabinet Secretary with the authority to reward good workers and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people," he said.

Trump is using the VA Accountability Act, which gave the Secretary of Veterans Affairs greater authority to fire and discipline workers, as a model. The White House says that law has resulted in the dismissal of 1,470 employees, the suspension of 443, demotions for 83 others last year.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has requested that President Trump delay the State of the Union address while the government shutdown continues.

The New York Times reports: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi, citing security constraints from the ongoing government shutdown, has asked President Trump to reschedule his Jan. 29 State of the Union address or deliver it to Congress in writing unless the government reopens this week.”

Pelosi is concerned about the appearance of giving a high-profile speech to the nation while the government remains dysfunctional. On a more practical note, she points out security and logistical concerns as many government employees, including security personnel, are going without pay.

An American journalist working for Iran's English-language Press TV has been arrested by US authorities on unspecified charges, the state-run broadcaster said on Wednesday.

Marzieh Hashemi, 59, was arrested upon arrival at St Louis Lambert International Airport on Sunday and transferred by the FBI to a detention facility in Washington, DC, Press TV said.

"Her relatives were unable to contact her, and she was allowed to contact her daughter only two days after her arrest," the Iranian broadcaster reported.
***
Hashemi's reported arrest comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US.

During his recent trip through the Middle East, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US is "redoubling" its efforts to put pressure on Iran, accusing it of destabilising the region.

Michael McCaul, the bill’s author, has a long record of supporting Israel and has received $90,000 from pro-Israel political action committees that give to both Republicans and Democrats.

On January 8th Republican Congressman Michael T. McCaul of Texas introduced H.R. 336, reported to be a companion bill to S.1, the Senate bill that would cement a $38 billion package to Israel, combat the movement to pressure Israel to adhere to international law known as BDS, and other measures.

CNN’s reaction to President Trump denying he’s a Russian asset
First CNN pushes, promotes Russian asset story
Now they are gasping in horror he has to deny their BS?
Max Boot’s article, 18 reasons President might be Russian asset
Laundry list of unrelated stuff other people did or said
CNN seems to have given up on Mueller
CNN is creating the news they’re reporting

Retired US Navy Commander, Leah Bolger, says even though Gen. Mattis seems to have resigned, from the military perspective it is clear that he was fired from the administration.
In an exclusive interview with FNA, Leah Bolger said “Trump surrounds himself with Yes-men, and does not tolerate differing opinions” which is enough to “fire Gen. Mattis” after his disagreement with withdrawing US troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

Former US Secretary of Defense, before his resignation, had voiced his disagreement with some other Trump’s policies, including the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (Iran Nuclear Deal) and withdrawal from the Paris Accord concerning climate change.

Leah Bolger retired from the US Navy at the rank of Commander after twenty years of active duty service. After retirement, she started her peace activities. She is the creator and coordinator of the “Drones Quilt Project” which serves to recognize the victims of US combat drones and educate people. Currently she serves as the Chair of the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War.

The US Army continued reinforcing military bases under its control in Eastern Syria despite US President Donald Trump's declared decision for a pullout of Syria.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) quoted informed sources as saying that a US military convoy comprising 100 military vehicles has entered Syria via the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

It noted that the US military convoy also contained military and logistic equipment and has been sent to the US-led coalition bases in Eastern Euphrates region.

The source reiterated that the fortification of the US military bases in Eastern Syria is still continuing after Trump's decision to pull out forces from Syria.

Two leaders discuss situation in Syria over the phone amid growing tensions over the fate of US-allied Kurdish fighters.

The conversation on Monday came a day after Trump threatened on Twitter that he would "devastate" Turkey's economy if its forces attacked the US-backed Kurdish fighters, who helped Washington in its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

The war of words between the two NATO allies is the latest consequence of Trump's surprising decision last month to withdraw US troops from northern Syria, potentially leaving the Kurdish militia under threat as Ankara weighs a new offensive there.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to "devastate" Turkey's economy if it carries out a military offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria, drawing a response from Ankara which warned Washington against "shadowing" the country's strategic partnership with "terrorist propaganda".

Trump's threat on Sunday came amid tensions between the United States and Turkey over the fate of Washington's Syrian Kurdish allies in the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS) following his announcement last month that he plans to withdraw US forces from Syria.

"Starting the long overdue pullout from Syria while hitting the little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions," Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to ISIL.

"Will attack again from existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds," he added, while pushing for the creation of a 30km "safe zone

A petition calling for President Trump to declare liberal billionaire George Soros a terrorist and seize the assets of organizations tied to him has reached the threshold that requires a response from the White House.

The petition, which needed 100,000 signatures by Sept. 19, had almost 140,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning.

"Whereas George Soros has willfully and on an ongoing basis attempted to destabilize and otherwise commit acts of sedition against the United States and its citizens … The US Federal government, the DOJ should immediately declare George Soros and all of his organizations and staff members to be domestic terrorists, and have all of his personal an organizational wealth and assets seized under Civil Asset Forfeiture law," the petition by E.B. reads.

Soros, who donated millions to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said in January that Trump "is going to fail as president."

Jeff Bozo and the President’s tweets
NYC Mayor De Blazio instituting universal health care
Gavin Newsome working on it also for California
Important, whether it works out or not
Russian collusion outcome seems obvious
Both sides will claim they were right all along
Eric Swalwell on taking interpreters notes
Destroying evidence indicates guilt
Hmm…Hillary destroyed evidence
Eric Swalwell requesting someone prove a negative
Is he assuming his followers are stupid?
FBI motivation, investigating President Trump…was vengeance
Is there evidence of that, or is it mind reading?
Will Tulsi Gabbard be the 2020 Democrat candidate?
Simple answer, how is CNN framing her?
Watch for who CNN coverage anoints
President Trump taking interpreters Putin meeting notes
Any chance Mueller hasn’t already talked to interpreter?
Big news if he has or hasn’t talked to him

Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” network political analyst and veteran reporter Carl Bernstein said his sources have told him that special counsel Robert Mueller’s report will show President Donald Trump “has helped” Russian President Vladimir Putin “destabilize” the United States.